


Rifts

by melxncholly



Series: Inquisitor Tabris AU [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Inquisitor Tabris au, Original Inquisitor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 09:24:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9601193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melxncholly/pseuds/melxncholly
Summary: In which and unwilling Warden is forced to trek up a mountain, seal some rifts, and meet a bunch of jerks.Inquisitor Tabris AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> this was beta'd by my lovely pal abby <3 also known as skellyskoo over on at tumblr, so if this is a lil better than the others, thts why
> 
> also if this sucks its bc i got tired of looking at it. dialogue is sorta ripped from the game, so it might get a lil boring. i also tried posting this like five times so im doNE WITH IT

Kanya was getting tired of this - this endless day. She had been conscious for a total of fifty five minutes (she was keeping time, counting the seconds, the minutes), and yet she already ached to be home. Her limbs felt like led, and she couldn't seem to get enough air to her lungs. She remembered, then, why she hated the mountains so much: higher elevations mean thinner air, and shit weather.

Cassandra called to her from up ahead, and Tabris briefly considered what would happen if she turned around right then and there and marched her way back home, back to her wardens and to her family - consequences be damned.

She missed her home, missed her bed, missed the grubby hands of her children and her father’s voice. She missed Alistair. Everytime Cassandra spoke, it struck a nerve, made her fingers curl and tighten around her daggers, and she was dangerously close to doing something she might regret.

Cassandra’s voice cuts through her thoughts, brings her back to reality. 

“We’re getting close to the rift! You can hear the fighting!” 

Sure enough, she can hear it, the tell-tale sounds of a battle, the yell of soldiers in the distance, and the closer she gets she can feel the crackle of magic in the air.

“Who’s fighting!” Kanya calls back, loud enough to carry over the battle. Cassandra carries on, not as much sparing a glance back as she replies.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

_ Well, that’s not cryptic at all. _

Kanya trudged after her, limbs feeling heavy, and her foot catches on a corpse and she trips, falling into Cassandra’s back and sends them both toppling over and into the fray. Cassandra curses, something Kanya cannot understand, and throws herself into the fight. Kanya struggled, her limbs felt dead, and her head ached, and she was just so,  _ so,  _ tired. If she just closed her eyes, let herself  _ go _ maybe she’d wake up in bed, Alistair next to her, and things would be okay again. If she just-

“Look out!”

A yell brought her back, and Kanya whipped her head up, just in time to see a demon above her. Her daggers,  _ where were her daggers- _

The panic she felt was short lived. An arrow pierced the demon, killing it in an instant, and a large hand appeared in front of her face, beckoning to her. Kanya took it with a thank you, strong arms pulling her back to her feet, and the dwarf besides her gave the warden a comforting smile, accompanied by a strong pat on her arm.

“Not the brightest idea kid.” He flashed her with a smile, before pulling back his crossbow and firing. Kanya resists to snap at him, the  _ Shut up I’m nearly thirty _ , on her tongue, but she decides against it. She pulls back, neck cracking in response of her stretch, and her knuckles are white around the grip of the dagger as she throws herself into the battle.

It goes fast, faster than she expects. It’s easy to fall into the rhythm of battle, how cathartic it is to kill these demons with reckless abandon. It’s over too soon for her tastes.

She wipes the blade on her pants, cleaning it with little regard to her own clothes, and ignores the voices of the others around her. 

She barely acknowledges the man's voice, until Kanya’s arm is roughly grabbed (the weird one, the glowing one, the one that has something very  _ wrong _ with it). It sparks and glows, the rift in front of them seemingly being sucked up into her  _ palm _ .

It ends as quick as it begins, leaving Kanya dumbstruck and staring at her hand. Green eyes flicker up to him, an elf she realized, before words tumble out of her mouth, too loud and inelegant.

“What did you  _ do _ ?”

“I did nothing, the credit is yours.” 

He smiles, and looks back to Cassandra, and she tries to smother the annoyance that flares up. It doesn’t work.

“Are you all  _ this  _ fucking cryptic?” her voice is bitter, and Kanya cradles her hand close to her chest, eyes flicking uneasily between the elf, the dwarf, and Cassandra. The dwarf in question muffles a laugh.

The rest ignore her though, Cassandra looking back to the elf, as if he had the answers.

“Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized  the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake – and it seems I was correct.”

Well wasn’t he smart. She couldn’t bring herself to care, about the mark, the Breach in the sky, the people she was forced to assist. Hell, they didn’t even know who she  _ was _ .

“Meaning it could also close the Breach itself…” Cassandra’s words trailed off, her gaze flicking towards Kanya and- no. No she wouldn’t,  _ couldn’t _ do it. Not what Cassandra was thinking.

“Possibly,” the elf in front of her turns his eyes towards Kanya, and dread filled her belly. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”

“Good to know, I thought we might be ass deep in demons forever.” 

She wants to speak, open her mouth and give a witty retort and maybe run away. Run off and never look back, but her mouth is dry, the dread in her belly making her sick. It reminds her of Denerim, nearly ten years ago, Riordan telling a child that only a Warden could kill an Archdemon, and doing so would cost them their life.

It worked out in the end, but this, this was an unknown. It could kill her, and if she died, she’d never see her Wardens, her father, her family again. She’d never get to say goodbye to Alistair.

A large hand hovering in front of her steals Kanya from her thoughts, the sight of a smiling dwarf replacing the haze from her eyes.

“Varric Tethras: rogue, story teller, and,” he looks to Cassandra and then back to her. “Occasionally unwelcome tagalong.” He winks to Cassandra, and Kanya wants to laugh. He’s witty, and she welcomes his presence more than Cassandra’s.

“Kanya,” She takes her hand in his and gives it a shake. “Nice crossbow you have there.” 

“Ah, isn’t she? Bianca and I have been through a lot together.” His voice is fond, and Kanya would laugh at the warm gaze he sends the weapons way.

“You named your crossbow Bianca?” There’s a laugh in her voice, joy, something that had been missing for Maker knows how long. She was in no place to judge, after all, her mother’s precious dagger was called Fang.

“Of course, and she’ll be great company in the valley.”

Cassandra disagreed, if the sound she made was anything to take from it. “Absolutely not- Varric the help is appreciated but-”

“Have you been in the valley lately Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You  _ need _ me.” 

“Yeah,  _ Seeker _ , you expect the two of us to take on every demon running our way?”

If the noise Cassandra made was anything to go by, then yes, she did.

The elven man steps forward, his hand taking hers and giving a small shake. 

“My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live.” 

“He means,” Varrics voice chimes in. “ _ I kept that mark from killing you while you slept. _ ”

Well that wasn’t disturbing to hear. Kanya keeps the hand closer to her chest, cradling it almost.

“Well, I’m no use dead I guess.” It was morbid to think of, that this mark could kill her. Morbid and terrifying. She blocked the voices out, barely listening to Cassandra and Solas speak. He was an apostate, apparently, and he spoke about how  _ ‘All mages are apostate’s now Cassandra, but I’m so smart, so I’m here to help, just listen to me talk about the Breach’ _

She tuned it out, more acutely aware of how sore she was, how tired. How her hand ached and how much she’d love to leave, to return to her Wardens and her family. A commitment such as this, this wasn’t something she was used to. The Wardens were different, they were her family, and even if she had been… less than willing to join their ranks, it meant something. The Wardens, or at least,  _ her _ Wardens, looked out for each other.

She didn’t know if she could say the same about them.

The jostle of her arm brought her out of the reverie she was in, and she found all eyes on her.

“I’m just trying to get through this  _ alive _ .” She forced out. Cassandra gave her a look, and Solas continued speaking. Something about magic, something Kanya could barely bring herself to care about.

“Well, Bianca’s excited.” Varric said, eyes darting between the group.

“The road ahead is blocked, this way, down the bank.”

“We must move quickly.”

Kanya didn’t move immediately. She watched as Cassandra walked off, Solas behind her. Varric stopped, and looked back at the woman, waiting for her. With a sigh, Kanya pushed herself forward, carefully maneuvering her way over the broken wall and up to the front of the party.

Everything escalated from there. Demons spat out from the Breach, rifts causing damage and chaos, and Kanya was the only one who could put a stop to it. Each rift hurt more than the last, and she couldn’t even bring herself to think about how she’d stop the giant rip in the sky.

But when she did, it ended with her seeing black.


End file.
